Rating MLB general managers for 2021: AL West
By Bill Felber
AL West GM rankings: 1. Jim Click, Houston Astros
-2.6 WAA
Click’s season succeeded only by comparison with his divisional peers. His Astros won the division for two reasons:
1. He inherited a huge stash of talent from his predecessor, Jeff Luhnow. Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel , Lance McCullers, Ryan Pressly and Framber Valdez all performed well as legacies of Click.
2. He did less damage to his roster than his fellow AL West general managers did to theirs.
Objectively, Click did not have an especially effective season. He made 41 personnel moves impacting the major league roster, of which 23 – that’s 56% – yielded a negative return.
Click had his moments. His re-signing of outfielder Michael Brantley looked good when Brantley challenged his teammate, Gurriel, for the batting title. He hit .311. Still, a slim eight home runs and 47 RBI dropped his WAA to just +0.8.
Statistically, the better moves involved the callups of pitcher Luis Garcia and outfielder Chas McCormick. McCormick hit .257 with14 home runs, Garcia was 11-8 with a 3.30 ERA in 28 starts, and they combined for +2.6 ERA.
Click’s biggest problem may have been his propensity to disperse talent across the rest of the league. He moved nine players out of the Houston orbit to other stops, and seven of them produced positive value for their new clubs. George Springer was +1.4 in Toronto, Myles Starw was +1.0 in Cleveland, and Colllin McHugh was +1.3 in Tampa Bay.
That’s the kind of charity a general manager usually tries to avoid.